And behold, the Lord passed by, & a great & strong wind rent the mountains & brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: & after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the eathquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: & after the fire the thin sound of silence. 1 Kings19:11 & 12

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Sukkot: The Season of our Joy

Most
Christians know Christmas is celebrated on the wrong date. Many know of the pagan traditions associated
with Christmas. A few, very few, know
what the bible has to say about the birth of Christ & the

festival Christians
have forgotten.

For
an in depth study of the math involved you will need to do your own study. Math & I are not friends & I am not
even going to attempt to do the math.
There are many places that will give you step by step instructions on
this. What I am going to do is give the
broad outline, some of the inherent symbolism & the application for us as
Christians today.

We
actually have a really, really good idea of when Christ was born thanks to
Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was
married to Zechariah & Zechariah, as we know from the first chapter of the
gospel of Luke was a priest of the division of Abijah & Elizabeth was a
daughter of Aaron. Thus both belonged to
the Levite line.

Because
Zechariah’s division is mentioned we can date accurately when he was called to
serve in the temple, which would have
been twice a year for one week. Luke
also tells us that he drew the lot to go in & burn incense before the Lord,
offering up the prayers of the people.
At this point an angel appears, prophesises that in their old age their
prayer for a son would be answered & that he would come in the spirit &
the power of Elijah. Zechariah is struck
dumb, goes home to his wife & she falls pregnant. This places John’s birth around Passover,
which would be what Christians later termed Easter.

As
we read on in Luke we are told that in Elizabeth’s 6th month her
cousin Mary visits her. Mary has some
rather startling news to share because she has just found herself in a very
unique position & is also pregnant.

We
know that according to Luke Mary fell pregnant in Elizabeth’s 6th
month. Count forward 40 weeks & you
are in September when the festival of Sukkot is celebrated ~ though like many
of the Jewish festivals it is sort of moveable because the Jew’s calendar works
on a combined solar/lunar cycle.

That
is the foundation. Scholars can work it
all out & practically pinpoint the very day. That is not my purpose here. While I know God values accuracy He does
something both charming & kind for the mathematically challenged amongst
us. He gives us symbols. He gives us shadows & types. He lays down a pattern so that we recognise
the real thing when it arrives.

Now
it is not my purpose to tell you whether or not you should celebrate
Christmas. Rather I want to reveal the
Father’s heart & add to your joy in
the birth of a saviour.

Sukkot
falls some time in either September or October.
This year it fell in September.
It is a week long festival & lasted from the 1st to the 7th
of October. In the northern hemisphere
this makes it a fall festival & the 3rd of 3 mandatory annual
pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The first is
Passover which celebrates Israel’s delivery from Slavery. The second is Shavout , which celebrates the
giving of the Law. The third is Sukkot,
which remembers how Israel wandered for 40 years before being allowed to enter
the Promised Land.

Why
should Christians bother themselves with this stuff? It is O.T.
It was for the Jews. Because this
is the shadow of what was to come, indeed came in the flesh in the person of
Jesus Christ!

Firstly
this is the festival that celebrates God Tabernacling with His people. As He did as a cloud by day & a pillar of
fire by night, when the Shekinah glory filled the temple, when Christ became
man & dwelt among us & most wonderfully when the Holy Spirit was sent
to dwell within us.

This
is a 7 day festival that lasts for 8 days.
Why? Because it is the only Jewish
festival that is not Jew~specific. That
is, it was a celebration that was extended to & included the gentile
nations, invoking blessing & inclusion to them also. Sacrifices were offered for the nations of
the world. Traditionally the 8th
day is the day God asked his own people to tarry a little longer to enjoy a
special time alone, just He & them together.

Sukkot
was a time of extending hospitality, especially to the poor. Each night a chair was set for the specially
invited guest for that evening who would be one of the Great Shepherds of
Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron ~ or when Christians
celebrate this festival, John the Baptiste but most especially Christ Himself!

Sukkot
is commonly known by 2 other names: Holiday of the Ingathering & The Season of Our Joy. Both have deep symbolism for the believing
Christian. It is said that you have
never known rejoicing until you have celebrated Sukkot in Jerusalem!

For
the week of this festival it is customary to build temporary shelters & to
live in them ~ though modern Jews usually only eat meals in them. As the weather in Israel is usually mild at
this time of year it is perfect for camping out!

Now
come forward to the birth of Jesus. We
have established that He was He was probably born in September but what clues
do we have that it was at Sukkot?
Firstly we know that Jospeh & Mary went down to Bethlehem for the
census. Bethlehem was considered an
outer suburb of Jerusalem. As traveling
was expensive & took people away from their work it would make sense to
combine the 2 things. Joseph would have
been close enough to Jerusalem to attend the religious services each day. After the birth of Jesus Mary was unclean
until she offered her sacrifices on the 8th day.

One
of the joys of doing word research is what turns up. What turned up was the Greek word Phatne, which is usually translated as
manger & indicates a crib for fodder for animals. The Hebrew is, yep, sukkot ~ a temporary shelter for animals made of green boughs &
the traditional housing for the Jewish festival. Many sukkot were attached to the outer wall
of the temple.

The
last point I want to raise is another obscure tradition that has been lost ~
because it tells us something terribly important about who Jesus is & what
He came to do.

In
the 2nd chapter of Luke he informs us that not only will Jesus be
lying in a sukkot, he will be wrapped in swaddling clothes. I have always found this comment a little
strange because surely all babies are wrapped in swaddling bands of some
sort? That Luke mentions it means there
is something for us to note. It is found
in a Jewish priestly practise. When the
priestly garments had become worn out in service at the temple & could no
longer be worn they were torn into strips & used by Levite families to
swaddle their babies to indicate they were priests dedicated to the Lord from
birth…

We
too have our sukkot ~ this flimsy temporary dwelling we call our body &
which now is a dwelling place for God’s Holy Spirit. God physically dwells with us.

God
gives us such richness to feed our spirits.
When we place things in their correct biblical frame we have the most
wonderful promises: As I dwelt with
Israel in the wilderness, so now I dwell with you; See, I have given you one who has fulfilled
all the law & redeemed you from the bondage of sin; I remembered you,
though you were not my chosen people & you did not know me ~ but now you
do; I have sent my son; from His birth he was a priest dedicated unto the Lord
& now, you are my people, my chosen ones.
Come apart & tarry with me, just the two of us together. Truly this is the season of our joy.